


Defend

by Fangirlwriting



Series: Creative Trade [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Good Friend, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is a Good Friend, Deceit | Janus Sanders is a Good Friend, Gen, Hurt Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders Being a Jerk, Morality | Patton Sanders Being A Jerk, Thomas is Just Being Thomas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Roman understands things have to change, and he's willing to fight for that if he has to.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Creative Trade [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991227
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	Defend

“Okay,” Roman started, not quite sure where to take this conversation. Maybe they should get a clearer picture first. “So… what exactly do you do as Thomas’ main creativity?”

“Uh, well I’m in charge of lesson plans,” Remus said. “As long as I don’t go too off the rails, and… that’s it.”

Janus raised his eyebrows. “That’s _it?”_

Remus nodded. “Why? What do you guys have Roman do?”

“Roman can do what he wants,” Virgil said. “I mean, Thomas may not use his ideas as much, but…”

“I write books, plays, songs,” Roman said. “I go on adventures in the imagination. I’m creativity. I do my job. Your job should be making the lessons more interesting for Thomas and his students. At _least.”_

“That’s not what Patton says,” Remus pointed out. “He says my ideas aren’t age appropriate or good for teaching. And Logan says they’re too unrealistic and wouldn’t fit the learning environment.”

“That’s not a reason to discredit you completely!” Virgil exclaimed. “And then they still expect you to do what they want? That’s just— ugh!” He threw his hands in the air.

“Alright yes, I’ll admit it’s concerning,” Janus said. “But you don’t need to scream at the top of your lungs, Anxiety.”

“I’ll scream if I feel like it,” Virgil grumbled, crossing his arms.

“It’s not a big deal,” Remus said, although Roman was pretty sure by the look on his face that even he didn’t believe that entirely. “It happens all the time.”

“Yeah, you know that makes it a bigger deal, right?” Virgil said.

“Alright, take a breath, Anxiety,” Roman said. “We all agree that something needs to be done.”

“What? No, I’m fine,” Remus said. “You all don’t need to come rushing in like something’s wrong.”

“Remus,” Roman said. “It’s really not okay for them to treat you like that.”

“But that’s just… how it works,” Remus said, sounding hesitant. “The stuff I come up with just isn’t… necessary. It doesn’t matter. Right?”

All three of them stared at him for a minute.

“Dude,” Virgil said, sounding more than a little disturbed and concerned.

“Even if that were the case,” Janus said slowly. “It wouldn’t then be fair for them to have so much control over what you make.”

Remus looked at him for a minute, seemingly trying to process what he was saying. “…Oh,” he said weakly. “Yeah?”

Roman nodded. “Yeah.”

Remus didn’t say anything to that, and eventually Roman decided he should probably get the conversation going again. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “So, we all agree something needs to be done,” he said again.

“I’m not so sure this is a problem we can solve hands off,” Virgil said. “Considering Remus did just say point blank that his ideas don’t matter.”

“Hey!” Remus exclaimed.

“He does have a point,” Roman said hesitantly. “You’ll need someone in your corner.” He bit his lip as he thought for a second. Then he looked back up and met eyes with Remus. “So that’ll be my job.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Yeah, we can move my room over to the other commons, right?” Roman asked, turning to Janus, who nodded.

“What? Dude, no!” Virgil cried. “I’d miss the shit out of you!”

“Careful, Anxiety, or I’ll start to think you like me or something,” Roman said with a smirk. “Don’t worry, it’s not like I won’t be around. There’s no way I’m eating dinner with the light sides.” He winced and glanced over at Remus. “No offence.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Are you sure about this?” Virgil asked, crossing his arms. He looked over at Janus. “Do you actually think this is a good idea?”

“Yes, I think it’s a terrible plan,” Janus said, and Virgil sighed. “I also think… you would certainly make much less progress if we introduce Thomas to the fact that he has two creativities.”

Now it was Roman’s turn to stare at Janus in surprise. “Really?”

Janus nodded. “Really.”

Roman shared a surprised glance with Virgil, who then started to grin. “Dude, you’re moving up in the world!” he called, throwing his hands up.

“Okay, take a breath,” Janus said. “We’re still doing this for Remus’ sake.”

“You really don’t have to—” Remus started.

“Too late, we’re doing it!” Roman called. “We can do that tomorrow. For now, we’ll meet you upstairs tonight after everyone is asleep so we can move my room.” He glanced over at Janus. “If that’s good with you?”

Janus nodded, and Roman took that as his cue. “Well then!” he called, standing. “I’m going to go get ready for that!”

“And if we’re going to be up again tonight, I’m going back to bed!” Virgil called just as enthusiastically before sinking out to his room.

Roman rolled his eyes a little and turned to Remus. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asked, and Remus nodded before sinking out himself. Roman gave Janus one last wave before they both did the same. He had a lot to get done.

…

Roman had never been in the light sides’ commons before. He’d been in Remus’ side of the imagination before, and even his room once or twice, but he’d never really felt like the commons was worth exploring.

He was clearly absolutely right because this looked like the most boring place in the universe.

“I do not care for the minimalist style,” Roman mumbled as they walked through the halls. They’d separated the commons back home into three different sections, and he’d hung up plenty of artwork in his. Janus had stylized his according to snakes because he was unoriginal, and Virgil had asked for help decorating his own, and Roman had helped him decorate it based on Halloween.

“Tell me about it,” Remus grumbled, shutting the door between the commons behind them. They headed through a living room with a couch and a coffee table with nothing on it, and through a kitchen that looked spotless, towards a hallway painted blank white with three doors in it, two on the right side and one on the left.

“Does anyone actually live here?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t really seem like it,” Janus said.

“Logan is insistent on things being tidy,” Remus said. “He’s essentially the head honcho around here, so this is what we get.”

“Ugh,” Roman muttered. “And I’m going to be moving my room here.”

“Right,” Janus said. “We should probably do that before we wake anyone else up.”

“So where do we want to put your door?” Remus asked. “It’d be kinda fun to have it on the ceiling.”

“Well, I do actually need to be able to reach it,” Roman pointed out. “But we’ll pencil it in for a future idea.” He looked around at the doors already present. “Which doors belong to who?”

“Patton,” Remus said, pointing at the door furthest away on the right. “Logan.” He pointed at the one next to it. “And mine.” The only door on the left side of the hallway. “They both usually head straight to Thomas from their rooms first thing in the morning, so they probably won’t see your door before you introduce yourself.”

“Perfect, then we can just put mine next to yours,” Roman said, glancing at Janus.

Janus nodded and snapped his fingers, and just like that, Roman’s door appeared. It stuck out like a sore thumb with all its decorations and the fact that it was painted bright red, but he supposed it standing out was the point.

“Roman I love your door,” Remus breathed. “Have I ever told you that?”

Roman laughed a little. “You should see Anxiety’s,” he said. “I think you’d like his horror theme more.”

“You know, we’re probably going to be working closer together at this point,” Virgil said, turning to face Remus. “You can just call me Virgil.”

Remus blinked in surprise. “Oh.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Janus said. “Janus. Just don’t tell any of the light sides.”

“Of course not,” Remus said, sounding serious for once. “Names are a big deal.”

“Aww, look at you two opening up,” Roman said, smiling just a little mockingly.

“Watch yourself, Roman,” Janus said casually. “You don’t want me to punch you before your big reveal to Thomas.”

Roman grinned more genuinely, still amazed that was actually going to happen. He did need to go get ready, actually. He had to look his best when appearing to their center for the first time.

“I can give an introduction,” Remus said hesitantly. “You know, if you want. I could hype you up as being scary or dangerous or incredibly sexy or something.”

Roman snorted. “I’m already all three of those things. But that would be nice, thank you Remus.”

“So when are we planning?” Virgil asked, as Roman opened his door and headed inside, just to make sure everything was still in its place. Everyone followed after him as he did so, and Janus shut the door behind them. “Do we want to do this over breakfast, or what?”

“I’d suggest as Thomas gets home from work,” Janus said. “Logan allows that half hour of down time before jumping into grading things, we could use that time to introduce Roman.”

“Man, Logan sounds like a nightmare,” Virgil muttered. “And I would know.”

“Alright, then it is,” Roman said. “And uh, I can just sink out and come right back home if I want to, right?”

Janus nodded. “You could also use the door in the imagination. Unless you change it I’m fairly certain it will still lead to our commons.”

“Good,” Roman said, the slight bit of unease he had about this whole thing fading. He clapped his hands together. “Alright. Let’s begin Operation Creative Trade.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Virgil asked, smirking.

“Well yeah, because it’s about giving Remus more of a job to do and also about the fact that I’m coming over here and… oh shut up Emo.”

…

Roman hadn’t stopped pacing in front of the door out of the mindscape since Remus had left to go join Logan and Patton.

“Roman. Princey. Hey. Could you cool it? You look more nervous than I feel all the time,” Virgil said.

“I’m sorry, who exactly is the one getting introduced to Thomas today?” Roman asked, turning to look at Virgil. “Is it you? Oh, oh it’s me? Well I guess I’m the only one who has much of a right to talk, then.”

Virgil flipped him off in reply, and Roman copied the motion.

“Would you two both cool it?” Janus said, shooting a look over his shoulder. “I’m trying to focus here. We’ve all agreed that Roman needs to make a dramatic entrance with proper timing.”

“Oh, yeah,” Virgil said.

“Of course.”

“Then I need to watch Remus for his introduction so that I can cue you. So shut up.”

Virgil humphed and Roman went back to pacing. He kept a little bit of an eye on Thomas himself in order to see when he got home, but mostly he was just trying to steel his nerves.

Finally, Remus started making a speech that could really only be about him, as Patton and Logan were both staring at him like he was crazy.

“Patton just asked _what_ in the perfect tone, Roman that’s it, go!” Janus called, and Roman opened the door and walked through before he could think about it.

He appeared on a spot on the stairs that allowed him an easy view of everyone else in the room. Everyone cried out in surprise as he did, but Roman focused mainly on Thomas, who was gaping at him.

Roman stood up straighter. “Thomas Sanders,” he said, and Thomas’ eyes widened. “It would be an honor, if the reasons for my visit were different.”

“Oh goodness,” Patton muttered. “This can’t be good.”

Logan sighed. “It’s the Prince,” he said, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“I’m sorry, the Prince?” Thomas asked, glancing over at Logan. “Who’s the Prince?”

“I’m right here, you know,” Roman said, raising an eyebrow. “You could just ask me.”

Thomas looked hesitantly back over at him. “Uh, okay, the Prince. Who are you?”

“Just call me Princey, the Prince is too much of a mouthful,” Roman said, waving his hand dismissively. “And I am your Creativity!” He flourished his hand with the second part of the sentence.

Thomas’ face twisted up in bewilderment. “I thought that was Remus.”

“It’s… kinda both of us,” Remus said hesitantly. “Princey’s a little more vanilla than my usual tastes. He also has more to do though.”

“Yes, that’s a good point,” Roman said, nodding at Remus. “Why do you want to stifle your own creativity, Thomas?”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?”

“Thomas’ life and profession is not something that requires a lot of creativity, Princey,” Logan said, shooting him a look.

“Wow, excuse you, Microsoft Nerd. There is _always_ room for creativity.”

“Princey, we—” Patton took a deep breath. “I understand you have concerns. But we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

“Actually, this is Thomas’ down time?” Roman said, smiling. “I’m showing up now for a reason.”

Patton took a deep breath. “Be that as it may,” he said through gritted teeth. “We use this time to relax, not to dwell on things that aren’t important.” He glanced at Remus for the second part of the statement, and Remus seemed to get exactly what he meant if his wince was anything to go by. Roman bristled.

“So maybe if you want to talk to Logan about a time that we can set aside for sides like you and Remus—”

“Shut up, Moral Mumbler!” Roman snapped.

Everyone in the room instantly turned to stare at him.

“Princey—” Remus said hesitantly.

“What, are we just supposed to take that? That was the most underhanded insult I’ve ever heard, what the hell is wrong with you?!” he asked, glaring at Patton.

“Excuse me?” Patton asked, looking more than a little offended. “Watch your language!”

“I think I have the right to a _minor_ swear word when you just told Remus and I that we aren’t important!”

“Woah, that is _not_ what I meant,” Patton said, holding his hands out. Roman raised an eyebrow. He looked like he actually believed that.

“Oh? Well then by all means, explain what you _meant.”_

Patton looked more than a little irritated. “I just mean that we don’t have _time_ right now, kiddo. We were going to watch a short TV show and then get started on grading. We have a lot to do tonight.”

“I am not your kiddo,” Roman said firmly, crossing his arms. “And that is not what you said.”

“Woah, hang on a second, let’s not go placing blame,” Thomas said, and everyone turned to face him. “Look, I understand it can be frustrating, but there are other responsibilities we have. Those have to come first.”

“They _are,_ Thomas,” Roman said. “They _do._ All the time.”

“Look, Princey,” Logan said. “I can understand getting frustrated if you feel like no one is listening—”

Roman laughed.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Did I say something humorous?”

“I’m sorry, I’m thinking about the fact that you just said you understand what it feels like not being listened to. The second someone else tries to share any opinion that differs from yours you shut it down. And you,” he whirled back to Patton. “Do not help with your insistence that if Thomas ever listens to anyone other than you and Logan it would make him a bad person. And you know, I think Remus has said about two words since I arrived. I’m sorry Remus, anything you want to say?”

Remus was staring at Roman with wide eyes. He supposed that made sense, Roman couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually called Patton and Logan out on something.

“Um,” Remus said hesitantly. He looked between Patton and Logan and slid back a little more, towards the TV he was standing in front of. “No.”

Roman felt something in him ache at that, but for now he simply turned back to Logan and raised an eyebrow, because that really proved his point didn’t it?

Logan looked speechless for once, although still angry, so he probably hadn’t gotten through to him. Patton looked like he was seething under a barely repressed layer of politeness. And Thomas looked like he was trying to process too much information at once, which Roman supposed was fair.

So he definitely wasn’t going to solve all of the issues he needed to with one conversation. That probably would have been an unrealistic thing to expect anyway. It had felt pretty good to go off on Patton and Logan for once. That might not have been… the smartest idea, as he didn’t want to be antagonized, but he had really underestimated how angry they would make him right off the bat.

Roman sighed inwardly and prepared himself for the fact that he was most likely about to get told off a lot in the coming weeks.

This was all going to take a while, wasn’t it?


End file.
